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The Church and the 
Slum 



A STUDY OF ENGLISH WESLEYAN 
MISSION HALLS 



By 

WILLIAM HENRY CRAWFORD 

President Allegheny College 




New York: EATON & MAINS 
Cincinnati : JENNINGS & GRAHAM 



(LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Se<:eivecl 

DEC 9 190a 
cuss q 

COPY 






Copyright, 1908, by 
EATON & MAINS. 



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^■^"V 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Preface 11 

Introduction 13 

CHAPTER I 
Manchester and Salford Mission 17 

CHAPTER II 
Central Hall, Liverpool 47 

CHAPTER III 
Central Hall, Edinburgh . . . _ 67 

CHAPTER IV 
Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, and Birmingham .... 89 

CHAPTER V 
London Halls 117 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Page 

Central Hall, Manchester Frontispiece ^^ 

Interior of Free Trade Hall 16 ^ 

Rev. S. F. CoUier 23 ^ 

Rev. Hugh Price Hughes 29 ^ 

Rev. J. H. Jowett 34 ^ 

Central Hall Prize Band 39 • 

Central Mission Hall, Liverpool 46 / 

Rev. Joseph Jackson 51 / 

Sister Kate Chandler 55 ^ 

Rev. Charles Garrett _ . 60 *r 

Saint George's Mission Hall, Liverpool 64^ 

Interior of Central Hall, Edinburgh 68 ^ 

Rev. George Jackson 71 ^ 

Rev. F. H. Benson 81 / 

Central Mission Hall, Birmingham 88, 

Rev. C. W. Andrews 91 • 

Dr. H. J. Pope 97^ 

Eastbrook Hall, Bradford 104 y 

Rev. H. M. Nield 108> 

Leysian Mission Hall, London 116 • 

Rev. J. Ash Parsons 120 -^ 

Rev. Peter Thompson 124^ 

Rev. J. Gregory Mantle 128 '^ 

Rev. J. E. Rattenbury 132 . 

Central Hall, South London Mission 136 ^ 

Rev. Henry T. Meakin 140 ^ 

Rev. J. Gregory Mantle and Some of his Poor Children . . . 143 ^ 



On the one hand the city stands for all that is evil: a city 
that is full of devils, foul and corrupting ; and on the other 
hand the city stands for all that is noble, full of the glory of God 
and shining with a clear and brilliant light. But if we think a 
little more carefully we shall see that the city has in all parts 
of the world represented both these aspects. It has been the 
worst and it has been the best. Every city has been a Baby- 
Ion and every city has been a New Jerusalem, and it has always 
been a question whether the Babylon would extirpate the New 
Jerusalem, or the New Jerusalem would extirpate the Baby- 
lon. It has been so in the past and it is so in the present. 
The greatest corruption, the greatest vice, the greatest crime 
are to be found in a great city. The greatest philanthropy, the 
greatest purity, the most aggressive noble courage are to be 
found in the great city. San Francisco, Saint Louis, Chicago, 
Cincinnati, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Brooklyn are 
full of devils, and also full of the glory of God. — Lyman Abbott. 



PREFACE 

The chapters comprising this Uttle volume, 
though not in exactly the same form, were 
originally published last winter in Zion's 
Herald. Some who read these letters ex- 
pressed a wish that they might be put in 
more permanent shape and given a wider 
reading. Hence this book. 

It need hardly be said that what is here 
presented is not in any sense an exhaustive 
study of English Wesley an mission halls. A 
much larger volume would be required for 
that. The halls visited, however, are thor- 
oughly representative, and the conditions 
under which the work is being done are 
sufficiently diverse to give a fairly compre- 
hensive idea of the Wesleyan Forward Move- 
ment work as a whole. The writing, as will 
be seen, was all done on the spot except part 
of the last letter, which was finished on board 
the Oceanic during the return voyage. 

W. H. C. 

Meadville, Pa., July 15, 1908. 



11 



INTRODUCTION 



I HAVE long known the work of the British 
Wesleyan Church in city centers, and I have 
watched its development from the days of 
James Ernest Clapham, Dr. Ebenezer Jen- 
kins, and Hugh Price Hughes until the 
present moment. No man can afford to neg- 
lect the study of this operation if he seeks to 
serve the cause of the redemption of our 
cities. It is replete with valuable experiences, 
consecrated personalities, fine energies, and 
grateful results. 

The Manchester Mission, conducted by my 
friend, the Rev. Samuel F. Collier, is the best 
type of city mission work in the world to-day. 
It has honorable rivals in London, Leeds, 
Edinburgh, Bradford, Liverpool, Birming- 
ham, Belfast, and elsewhere. 

President Crawford has rendered American 
Methodism, and indeed all Christian churches, 
a signal service by chronicling here the re- 
sults of his trained observation. I trust that 
the book will be widely read and duly pon- 
dered. It is the authority for the United 

13 



14 INTKODUCTION 

States on these large practical experiments 
that have been made by the Mother Church 
of Methodism. Into them she has poured 
without stint her time and means and minis- 
terial efficiency, and their general course and 
results are here placed before the reader. 



4>'-Af . 





CHAPTER I 
Manchester and Salford Mission 

I PERHAPS ought to say, first of all, that 
my interest in Wesleyan mission halls began 
in 1891, when I heard Hugh Price Hughes in 
Saint James's Hall, West London. One could 
hardly hear Hughes without being won to his 
cause. When I was here five years ago there 
was great rejoicing among Wesley ans over the 
glorious success of the ^'Million Guinea Fund'' 
movement and the purchase of the Royal 
Aquarium in London, on whose site, facing 
Westminster Abbey, Wesleyan Methodism is 
building a great hall and Methodist head- 
quarters. I had the privilege of attending a 
monster mass meeting in the Aquarium when 
ten thousand sons and daughters of John 
Wesley sang and shouted their thanksgiving. 
Mr. R. W. Perks was in the chair; there were 
fourteen speakers, and nearly all of them had 
something to say of a new era for Methodism 
and of the Forward Movement, of which the 
mission hall is one of the concrete expressions. 
This Aquarium meeting only increased my 
interest in the mission halls. 

17 



18 THE CIIUKCII AND THE SLUM 

CENTRAL HALL, MANCHESTER 

Since the last session of the Wesleyan Con- 
ference the impression seems to have become 
current in certain quarters among us that the 
mission hall movement is on the decline. Be- 
cause of this I determined to take part of my 
vacation to look more carefully into the work 
of these halls and to inquire from men on the 
ground just how much was being accom- 
plished. I came to Manchester first because 
nowhere has the mission hall been tested as it 
has here. The Central Hall of this city is the 
oldest of all the halls, and its superintendent, 
Rev. S. F. Collier, has been in charge ever 
since its opening in 1896. For four days now 
I have been looking through what Dr. F. B. 
Meyer has described as '^this labyrinth of 
halls, chapels, lodging houses, and other in- 
stitutions.'' The impression made upon me 
has been such that I can easily believe Dr. 
Maclaren is right in saying: ^ There is no 
better bit of work for Christ and man being 
done in England to-day.'' My vacation plans 
are all broken into. I am so amazed at what 
I have seen and heard that I shall devote 
practically my whole time here to the mission 
halls. The work has grown far beyond my 
expectations. 



MANCHESTER AND SALFORD MISSION 19 
THE APPROACHING ANNIVERSARY 

I am particularly fortunate in visiting Man- 
chester at just this time. Central Hall is 
about to celebrate what its friends call its 
'^coming of age/' Big plans are on for this 
twenty-first anniversary, which is to be held 
in Free Trade Hall on Tuesday, November 19. 
It will be a great occasion, and the influence 
of it will be felt by every mission hall in Eng- 
land. This morning I saw the advance proof- 
sheets of an illustrated ^^Souvenir of the 
Progress and Present Work of the Man- 
chester and Salford Mission, '^ now in the 
hands of the printer. It will be out in a few 
days. This souvenir sets forth in outline 
what has been done in these twenty-one years. 
In it are a few congratulatory letters from 
men who know at first hand what has actually 
been accomplished. 

CONGRATULATORY LETTERS 

One is from the venerable Dr. Alexander 
Maclaren. I had the pleasure of shaking 
hands with him yesterday. What a mighty 
preacher he has been! God bless him! He 
is honored and loved in America as well as 
here. Last evening I heard a Congregational 
minister say: "Twenty-five years ago, when 



20 



THE CHUKCH AND THE SLUM 



I was a student here in the University, Mac 
was in his glory. My, hut he did preach! 
We've none Uke him now.'' Dr. Maclaren's 
congratulatory message to Superintendent 
Collier I give in full: 

''1 always esteem it an honor and a privilege 
to have the opportunity of bearing my testi- 
mony to the worth of the work of the Central 
Hall Mission. I was at its cradle, and have re- 
joiced in its growth to maturity. I heartily 
congratulate you and all your workers on its 
coming of age, and hopefully anticipate greater 
progresses in the future. You have laid the 
whole city under obligations, and you have 
given all the churches an object lesson of the 
greatest value. You have always kept the 
evangelistic side of your work well in the fore- 
ground, and yet have set us all an example of 
effective social work. I would that all institu- 
tional churches would learn from the Central 
Hall Mission the proportion which the two 
parts of their operations should bear to each 
other. I wish for you a prosperous year, and 
confidently look forward to much growth and 
success in coming days." 

The following is from Dr. J. S. Simon, 
president of the Conference; 



MANCHESTER AND SALFORD MISSION 21 

"I congratulate you on the 'coming-of-age' 
of the mission. Your work, and the work of 
those associated with you, is above all human 
praise, but it carries with it always the thanks- 
giving of the myriads who have been blessed 
by it. I esteem it a high honor to be a,llowed 
to help, in some small measure, the Manches- 
ter and Salford Mission.'' 

Dr. J. H. Jowett, of Birmingham, who is, 
perhaps, the most thoroughly representative 
preacher in England to-day, writes: 

"What can one say about your work except 
what every man would be glad and ready to 
say? I know nothing like it in England. 
What has impressed me most about it is this : 
the free play of the Spirit of God is not hin- 
dered in the amazing multiplicity of your 
works. I never feel smothered among them. 
One is always sensible of the wind that blow- 
eth where it listeth, and the primary aim is 
not lost in the means. Everything is made to 
tend toward the redemption of man and the 
building up of the saints of God. Your mis- 
sion offers a fine proof to the world that 
Pentecostal power can be employed in the 
most modern adaptation of the Christian 
ministry.' ' 



22 THE CHUKCH AND THE SLUM 

WORK OF THE MISSION PRAISED 

These letters are in perfect harmony with 
what I have heard on all sides. They are 
simply generous recognition of the heroic and 
successful Christlike work which is being done 
by devoted men and women whose hearts are 
aflame with the ^Vhite fire'' of a noble pur- 
pose. Churchmen as well as Nonconformists 
acknowledge the ascendency of the Wesleyans 
in this work, and they particularly praise 
Superintendent Collier and his noble band of 
colaborers. I called on the city editor of the 
Manchester Guardian the other evening, and 
among other questions I asked him who were 
the two or three most influential ministers in 
the city. ^^ After Dr. Maclaren/' said he, '^and 
he has practically retired now, I should say 
Dean Welldon, of the cathedral, and S. F. 
Collier, of Central Hall.'' I quoted this re- 
mark later to the secretary of the Young 
Men's Christian Association, and he said he 
thought the city editor was quite right. 
Practically the same thing was said to me by 
Dr. J. Hope Moulton, of Didsbury College, 
the greatest authority on the Greek New 
Testament in England. After what I have 
actually seen with my own eyes of the ''soul- 
and-body-saving work" of this mission I find 




REV. S. F. COLLIER 



MANCHESTER AND SALFORU :^^SSION 25 

it quite easy to believe all that these men have 
said. I know of no better place to study the 
evidences of Christianity than right here. 

A FEW FIGURES 

Let me give a few notable figures: There 
are in the mission 15 centers of work; 22 
services are held every Sunday; 4,338 scholars 
are in the Sunday schools; 3,242 are in the 
Sunday afternoon meetings, and in the adult 
Bible classes and brotherhoods. Every week 
there are 33 prayer meetings, 9 Bible classes, 
49 open-air services, and 21 lodging-house 
services. Over 41,000 persons, destitute or 
in special difficulty, were interviewed, ad- 
vised, and helped this last year in connection 
with the social work, and 27,986 destitute men 
were fed on Sundays. Four Homes and 
Refuges, with labor yards and workrooms, 
are maintained, and 220 cripples have had 
their lives brightened by the Cripples' Guild 
and the industrial classes. The field for these 
activities is Manchester and Salford, with a 
population of 1,000,000. 

THE cripples' GUILD 

My tour of inspection began on Friday 
afternoon, when I was shown through the 
Central HaU building. This building is a 



26 THE CHUECH AND THE SLUM 

large and imposing structure on Oldham 
Street just off Market, and not far from the 
Lever Street Chapel, where Mr. Collier began 
his experiment. Central Hall is headquarters 
for a wonderful band of Christian workers. 
The offices of the superintendent and his 
chief of staff are here; here is the large audi- 
torium and the rooms for various classes, 
clubs, and guilds; and here, too, is the 
Registry and Labor Bureau in the famous 
room ^^No. 8J^ Last year 6,435 persons were 
interviewed in this room. Positions are se- 
cured for nearly 600 every year. As a result 
of the work of all the labor bureaus of the 
mission, work was found last year for over 
2,600 persons — 318 of them got permanent 
positions. In the evening I w^ent back again 
to see the Cripples^ Parlor and the Men^s 
Club. Both meet every Friday night. The 
Cripples^ Parlor was a sight to be remem- 
bered: a bright, well-lighted room and some 
sixty crippled children — all sorts of cripples 
they were — forgetting for a while their de- 
formities and aches and pains, and having a 
lovely time of it. There were games, songs, 
and much good cheer. Best of all were the 
kindly faces of the 'Vorkers," who gave di- 
rection to the evening's joy. There are some 



MANCHESTEK AND SALFOED MSSION 27 

two hundred children in the Cripples^ Guild, 
and from fifty to seventy-five are usually at 
the ''parlor meetings/' One of the nurses 
gives her whole time to these children, and 
visits those who are not able to come to the 
club meetings. After chatting for a time 
with some of the children and with a worker 
here and there in the room, I was invited by 
''Sister Marion'' to go downstairs to the Men's 
Club. 

THE men's club 

Here were about two hundred and fifty men 
from the street. Such a lot! I looked over 
the company to see how many had on white 
linen collars. There were just two, and theirs 
were both black. It was a company of tramps. 
But here they come every Friday night to this 
Men's Club — not the same ones; the personnel 
of the company changes constantly. The 
room is open from five to ten o'clock. From 
five to eight they play games — chess, domi- 
noes, etc. — read the papers and magazines, of 
which there is abundant supply, and write 
letters. The letter-writing interested me most. 
Writing material is furnished by the mission 
workers, and they also stamp the letters for 
the men. Each man is allowed to write one 
letter, paper, envelope, and stamp free. From 



28 THE CHUECII AND THE SLUM 

fifty to one hundred letters are written m an 
evening. Many of them are letters applying 
for work; some are letters home. Often they 
talk to Sister Marion about them. When I 
got to the room the letter-writing was nearly 
done, and the letters were being brought up. 
Some of them were beautifully addressed. 
There was no reason why they should not be. 
Last winter they had in the club a Manchester 
solicitor, a Birmingham dentist, and a cap- 
and-gown man of Cambridge - all in the club 
at one time, and all chopping wood together 
out at the Men's Home ; all brought in through 
drink, but ^^trying to work their way back.'' 
I saw an English clerg3nxLan there, a man who 
had gone wrong. He is trying to pull himself 
together. Every man who comes into the club 
meeting must register. Thus the workers 
know whether a man comes more than once. 
Over three thousand are on the books for the 
past twelve months. Placards are here and 
there announcing that pledges may be taken. 
One reads: "Wanted! Workingmen to strike 
against drink and gambling." The second 
part of the evening's program consisted of 
gospel songs, prayer, a short address by "the 
gentleman from America," and a musical fea- 
ture, consisting of voice, violin, and piano. 




REV. HUGH PRICE HUGHES 



MANCHESTER AND SALFORD MISSION 31 

Sister Marion, who has charge of this depart- 
ment, is a sanctified genius, I am sure of it. 
Her influence upon the men is such that it is 
not to be wondered at that some of them 
think her an angel in human form. 

THE men's home 

Saturday morning I was at Central Hall at 
nine o'clock to be taken to some of the Homes 
where the social side of the work is at its best. 
The Men's Home, an immense building cover- 
ing half a square, has accommodations for 353 
men — 212 boarders and 141 casuals. The 
casuals are the men who are only in for a 
short time, often a single night. Boarders pay 
sixpence per night, or three shillings a week, 
for room and bed. Casuals give three and a 
half hours' work for bed and three meals. 
The work is done in the woodyard, where from 
a hundred to a hundred and fifty men may be 
seen every afternoon, or in the tinyard, where 
scraps of iron and tin cans are brought in, 
sorted, and prepared for market. The men 
are given work in the afternoon rather than 
in the morning, so they may have the morning 
to look for permanent positions. More than a 
hundred men have been sent out in one day 
to work at which they have been able to earn 



32 THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

their own living. A gentleman, not of the 
mission, said to me: ^^One of the best things 
about Collier's mission is the work test. Collier 
stands in with the employers because he 
proves his men before he recommends them. 
He stands in with the men because he helps 
them to positions. Collier believes in work. 
He works himself, works hard, and he be- 
lieves everybody else ought to work. After 
he has proved the men in the woodyard or 
the tinyard he knows what they can do, and 
the employers know that he knows . ' ' Twenty- 
one thousand have been in this Home since 
the first of last January. The men average 
three nights each. Many remain only a single 
night. Even that one night means much to 
some. Others stay for weeks. A man whose 
face had attracted me in the club the night 
before, I found in the Home spreading bread 
for the casuals' dinner. He was formerly a 
piano-tuner. Drink and some other things 
did it. He is trying to work back. 

Dean Welldon, who is six feet three and of 
immense frame, climbing the three flights of 
stairs to the top of the building not long ago, 
said, as he puffed for breath, ^^My, but you 
need a lift [elevator] here. Collier.'' 'That's 
what the men come for," was the quick reply. 




REV. J. H. JOWETT 



MANCHESTER AND SALEORD JMISSION 35 

And they get the Hft they come for. For 
many it is the Hft that means beginning hfe 
over again. 

The Women^s Home is hardly less interest- 
ing than the Men's. A fine large building four 
stories high, with a well-lighted and attractive- 
looking restaurant, is found open twenty-four 
hours of every day. All sorts of cases come in 
here. Day or night the doors are always open. 
Policemen and cabmen, so the sister in charge 
told me, often bring in outcasts in the early 
hours of the morning so drunk they can hardly 
walk. The tablet in the dining hall tells the 
whole story: ^This House of Shelter was built 
by James Scarlett, of Bowdon, to the glory 
of God and as a memorial of his beloved wife, 
Elizabeth Catherine Scarlett, whose tender 
heart was full of compassion for the homeless 
and friendless.'^ 

THE SUNDAY PROGRAM 

Sunday is the great harvest day. I missed 
the morning services; had the approval of 
^^one of the staff'' for it, too. I simply could 
not resist the temptation to hear Jowett, of 
Birmingham, who was to preach in Dr. Mac- 
laren's church. Such a sermon! I did not 
believe there was a man in England who 



36 THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

could preach as Jowett does. No wonder the 
people crowd to hear him. He is certainly a 
man with a message. My afternoon and 
evening were full. At three it was a men^s 
meeting in Central Hall — much the same sort 
of a crowd I had seen at the club on Friday 
evening, only more than twice as many men. 
I would not have believed that such a looking 
set could be brought together in one room 
anywhere on the face of the earth. Faces 
brutal, scarred, blear-eyed, hopeless, but wist- 
ful, many of them! There they were — the 
sort that hell is made of. No besotted con- 
dition described by Dante could be worse. 
^What a parody on our civilization !'' ^^No," 
said one of the workers, ^^what an opportunity 
for Christ!'' The men got, free of charge, a 
bun and a cup of tea for coming. After the 
tea there followed a gospel service. All 
stayed. There was not a Sunday suit in the 
room. '^It seems that even God goes back 
on a man when he ain't got a Sunday suit." 
This bitter remark is said to have been made 
by a poorly clad fellow who was turned away 
from a London church by the policeman at 
the door. The door of Central Hall is wide 
open to the man without a Sunday suit. The 
most remarkable thing to me was the way the 



MANCHESTER AND SALFORD MISSION 31 

men sang and listened to the sermon. The 
sermon was about the man out of whom the 
devils were cast, and the preacher showed in 
a striking way what the crowd did for the man, 
what the devil did, and what Christ did. After 
the service some signed the pledge, and sev- 
eral remained as inquirers. I said to Mr. Ful- 
ler, one of the staff, ^^How much do you get 
out of this?'' He said, ^^About fifteen per 
cent.^' It seemed to me wonderfully big re- 
turns out of such material as that. 

WITH THE BAND TO FREE TRADE HALL 

At five I was over in Salford to see a new 
institutional church just being opened by the 
Congregationalists. Sylvester Home was 
preaching. At six I was out with one of the 
bands and helping to place ten thousand in- 
vitations to the evening meeting in Free 
Trade Hall, the great hall made famous by 
Cobden and Bright. For full three quarters 
of an hour the band threaded the streets 
within a radius of half a mile of the hall. One 
of the greatest fires seen in Manchester for 
years was raging only a few squares away. 
Not much of a crowd to-night, I thought. To 
my utter surprise, when we got to the hall 
nearly every seat was taken. 



38 THE CIIUKCH AND THE SLUM 

THE EVENING SERVICE 

A chorus of fifty voices, with the assistance 
of the great organ and an orchestra of eighteen 
pieces, led the singing, which was hearty and 
worshipful. An exceptionally fine quartet, 
the Minnesingers, sang two selections of the 
kind to win men to a better life. One of them 
was Stebbins's ^Taunch Away." The prayer 
offered by the preacher was the prayer of a 
man who had been living in Manchester all 
the week and knew the city's needs. The 
announcements gave one some idea of the 
magnitude of the work carried on. The one 
of greatest interest to me was that next Sun- 
day, October 27, would be the twenty-first 
anniversary of the opening of Central Hall, 
'^the first hall of the Methodist Church or of 
any church." 'When I came to Manchester 
a young chap of thirty," said Mr. Collier, ''the 
most hopeful man I found was a woman. She 
thought we might get five hundred people. 
My first sermon here I preached to forty-two 
people. To-day my colleagues and I are 
preaching to sixteen thousand. Every week 
our visitors are reaching forty-four thousand 
people in this city. But our work has only 
fairly begun. We expect to see this city won 
over to Christ. There's a lot to do yet, and 



MANCHESTER AND SALFORD MISSION 41 

we^re going to need all our friends to help us. 
So get ready for the anniversary.'^ Then fol- 
lowed the collection. Thirty of the men pass- 
ing the boxes were reclaimed drunkards! The 
mission uses its own product. There are more 
than twenty-five hundred such in the mission. 
After the collection came the sermon, which 
was clear, forcible, earnest, and inspiring, at 
some points thrilling. It was Children's Day, 
or Decision Day, as we call it. Earnest appeal 
was made for the children, particularly for 
^^the children in the hospitals,'' ^^the crippled 
children," ^^the children half damned in their 
birth and training." Here are a few of the 
short, sharp sentences: ^The hope of humanity 
rests with the children." '^A neglected child 
is a scandal to the nation." "We've got to do 
more for the children — stand by men for Par- 
liament who will do more for them." "How 
can men be devils enough to defile boys and 
girls?" "Do you know the place where your 
lad works?" "The men who lead a boy to 
drink deserve a 'cat-o'-nine-tails,' and I'd like 
to be one to give it to them." "Don't let the 
leprosy of your sin pollute young life." 
"Every boy who swears heard his first oath 
from somebody. Was it you?" "Where you 
work is the atmosphere pure, or does the foul 



42 THE CHUECH AND THE SLUM 

jest come out?'' There was nothing but the 
closest attention on the part of the audience 
during the entire sermon, and I did not won- 
der at it. In the after-service Mr. ColUer said 
to me, ^That fire robbed me of my raw ma- 
terial to-night.'' Though the number in the 
after-meeting was smaller than usual, the 
service was earnest and persuasive. Several 
went into the anteroom, where workers 
prayed with them and pointed them to Christ. 
I went with Mr. Collier to an "At Home" for 
homeless young people over on Oxford Street, 
and then bade him good-night and came to 
my hotel. 

AN HOUR IN THE OFFICE 

This morning I had an hour with Mr. Collier 
in his office — an hour I shall not soon forget. 
The man is altogether unconventional, yet is 
never undignified. He is well built physically, 
and seems to be capable of an unlimited 
amount of hard work. I said to him as I 
came in, "Well, is this blue Monday?" "No," 
said he, "I never have any blue Mondays. I 
have a cure." "Many would be glad to have 
your recipe," said I. "Begin work earlier on 
Monday. That's a sure cure." Mr. Collier is 
a graduate of Didsbury College, and is evi- 



MANCHESTEK AND SALFOED MISSION 43 

dently a student, or he could not preach as he 
does. No Hving man could hold that great 
audience of three thousand people in Free 
Trade Hall, Sunday after Sunday for nearly 
twenty years, without study. I asked him if 
he got any time to read. ^'O, yes,'' said he, 
^^I read for an hour and a half last night after 
I got home, and I read for three quarters of an 
hour this morning before coming to the office.'' 
S. F. Colher is a born leader, a genius as an 
organizer, a lovable nature, and his dominant 
passion seems to be to save men — not the 
souls of men only, but men. He told me of the 
new Hall and Institute that is to be erected 
on Peter Street, near the Free Trade Hall. 
^^When we get that" — and how his face lighted 
up as he said it! — ^Vhen we get that, we shall 
have a proper home for our work. And it's 
going to come, too; there's no doubt about 
it." The anniversary gift asked for this 
year is $25,000— $15,000 to make up the de- 
ficit, and $10,000 for the new building, to 
which $120,000 has already been subscribed. 
The total cost of the new building will be 
$250,000. While in the office I was told of 
some of the work done by Gipsy Smith during 
the years he was evangelist for this mission. 
I saw in the morning mail what especially 



44 THE CHUKCH AND THE SLUM 

pleased me as a college president — many 
checks, some of them good-sized, too, for the 
anniversary and the new building. 

Leaving the office, I ran out to Didsbury 
College for a couple of hours, and then re- 
turned to my hotel to write this letter. It 
poorly represents what I have seen, but I 
send it on with the hope that something of 
the new vision of possibility for the redemp- 
tion of the city which has come to me may 
through it help somebody else. If I could 
have the ear of all my brother ministers in 
America who are expecting to visit England 
in the near future, I should say: Leave Dur- 
ham, York, and Lincoln out of your itinerary, 
or even pass by Windsor, Oxford, and Strat- 
ford-on-Avon, rather than miss spending a 
few days, including a Sunday, in Manchester 
with S. F. Collier and his heroic helpers, who 
are winning the slums of this city to Jesus 
Christ. If you will see the work as I have 
seen it, you will feel as I do — you can't help 
it. Miracles are happening here. The work 
itself is a miracle. 




CENTRAL MISSION HALL, LIVERPOOL 



CHAPTER II 
Central Hall, Liverpool 

''You must see the Central Hall in Liver- 
pool. The work there is simply terrific. And 
don't fail to attend one of their popular con- 
certs on Saturday night.'' This was said to 
me yesterday in Glasgow by Rev. William 
Lindsay, son of the great Professor Lindsay, 
to whom I had been introduced by Dr. George 
Adam Smith as the greatest authority of the 
United Free Church of Scotland on the work 
of institutional churches. ''He knows more 
about the institutional church," said Dr. 
Smith, "than the whole of us put together.'^ 

Mr. Lindsay has charge of an institutional 
church in Glasgow — the first and as yet the 
only one established by the Free Church. I 
had nearly an hour with him, and found him 
to be thoroughly familiar with the w^ork of the 
Wesley an halls. He seemed to know about all 
of them, and spoke of their work as one hav- 
ing authority. When he found that I had 
visited the halls in both Manchester and Liver- 
pool, he could hardly say enough about the 
work of these two centers. He had spent 

47 



48 THE CHUKCH AND THE SLUM 

some time in Manchester, and spoke with 
greatest enthusiasm of ColUer and his mar- 
velous success, particularly of the social side 
of the work. ^^But the great thing about it 
all,'' said he, '^is its evangelistic fervor. You 
see there the joy of the early church. Every- 
body is busy and everybody happy. It is 
the greatest work the Wesleyans have, but in 
its way the Liverpool work is just as impor- 
tant. The popular concert there is the 
greatest thing of the kind I ever saw." 

THE CONCERT 

I cannot say that I should have used the 
adjective ^^terrific" in describing the work of 
Central Hall, Liverpool, but the work is hardly 
less impressive than that in Manchester. I 
attended the popular concert on last Satur- 
day evening — ran over from Manchester to 
do it. It was well worth while, too. The 
program was not an unusual one, but when 
I arrived at the hall at six o'clock there were 
at least one hundred people waiting at the 
iron gateway to get in. This was three- 
quarters of an hour before the time an- 
nounced for the doors to open, and an hour 
and a half before the time for the concert to 
begin. By previous arrangement I got in 



CENTEAL HALL, LIVERPOOL 49 

at a side door. At half past six I went out 
to see the size of the crowd. The people were 
lined up two abreast and close together, both 
to the right and left of the gateway. I took 
the right line first, followed it a full square, 
passing the entrance to Shaftesbury Hotel in 
Mount Pleasant Street, then up that street 
toward the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion Hall. After reaching the end of the line 
I found that the distance back to the en- 
trance of the hall was one hundred and 
seventy-six yards. I took the line stretching 
out on Renshaw Street, and found the end to 
be one hundred and eighteen yards from the 
hall entrance. This was a quarter of an hour 
before the time for the doors to open and an 
hour before the concert was to commence. 
And people were still hurrying to get into the 
lines, some of them running. 

MANY SHUT OUT 

At ten minutes past seven orders were 
given not to allow any more to enter, as all 
the twenty-two hundred seats were filled and 
all available standing room taken. The police- 
man at the entrance raised his white glove, 
and the iron gates were shut in the faces of 
more than five hundred people who were 



50 THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

unable to get in. The pitiable thing about it 
was that many of that five hundred were 
workingmen, who could not get there earUer. 
As I looked at them I began to see more 
clearly the meaning of what the superin- 
tendent, Rev. Joseph Jackson, had said to 
me two days before: ^ These concerts are to 
get hold of the laboring men and the men in 
the street who never go to church/^ He told 
me of a gentleman who came to him recently, 
and said: ^^Mr. Jackson, I was at the concert 
last Saturday night, and I didn^t quite like 
it. Do you think it is the place a Christian 
ought to go?^' ^^Of course not," said Mr. 
Jackson, ^^it is not for Christians — it is for the 
men who don't go to church. You ought to 
have been at a prayer meeting or a class 
meeting somewhere. Besides, you did a posi- 
tive wrong in going, for you occupied a seat 
that I wanted badly for a poor workingman 
who was shut out.'' 

THE PROGRAM 

These Saturday night concerts — and they 
are practically the same in all the Wesleyan 
mission halls — consist of choruses, quartets, 
vocal and instrumental solos, humorous read- 
ings, and moving pictures— ^ ^animated'' pic- 




REV. JOSEPH JACKSON 



CENTRAL HALL, LIVERPOOL 63 

tures, they are called here, or cinematograph 
pictures. Care is taken to secure good talent, 
professional people for the most part. There 
are no reserved seats in the Liverpool hall, 
and the admission fee, including program, is 
twopence. Better-to-do and worse-to-do peo- 
ple all pay the same admission. Even at this 
admission fee the concerts pay. The net 
profit is from thirty to forty dollars per night. 
The mission owns and operates its own cine- 
matograph, so that the only cost for the 
moving pictures is the rent of the films. 

The audience having gathered, the concert 
began ten minutes before the appointed hour, 
Mr. Jackson in the chair. Nothing is done over 
here without having somebody in the chair. 
The opening number was an illustrated hymn 
thrown upon the screen, the audience standing 
and singing. My, but they did sing! The 
hymn was, ^Xet the lower lights be burning,^' 
each stanza with a different view on the 
screen — a lighthouse, water, and rocks show- 
ing in each, with lifeboat in last; but the same 
view for the chorus — and how they did sing 
out the words, ^^You may rescue, you may 
save'\f Then followed a prayer, which was 
simple, earnest, direct, and short. The mu- 
sical attractions for the evening were the 



64 THE CHUECH AND THE SLUM 

Brunswick Male Voice Choir and a contralto 
soloist. Both were good. The male chorus 
showed fine training, and there was a swing 
about their work which greatly pleased the 
audience. They sang a wide range of selec- 
tions, from ^^A Pickaninny Lullaby'' to the 
^^Crusaders' Song of Hope.'' They were en- 
cored repeatedly. Two of the encores — ^The 
Boys of the Old Brigade" and Root's ^Tlay 
the Man" — brought forth storms of applause. 
When they had been called back twice after 
one of the numbers, Mr. Jackson took the 
part of the singers, and said: ^That is enough 
now; you don't want to keep them here all 
night, do you? They must get home some- 
time." The contralto appeared in a rather 
bespangled gown, which was almost too much 
for the chairman, who turned to me and said : 
^^My! but she is done up regardless, isn't she? 
We do not usually have that sort here. She 
probably has another engagement later in 
the evening." But she sang well, and greatly 
delighted the audience, especially with two of 
her encores — ^ ^Holiday Time" and '^Home, 
Sweet Home." Here, as with us, the old 
pieces are the favorites. In the moving pic- 
tures there was a great variety — humorous, 
entertaining, and instructive. Among the 




SISTER KATE CHANDLER 
A Deaconess of Central Hall, Liverpool 



CENTKAL HALL, LIVERPOOL 57 

instructive was one which lasted for nearly 
fifteen minutes. It showed the process of 
tunny fishing off the coast of Sicily — drawing 
up the nets, putting the fish on ship, the 
return, unloading a colossal catch of two 
hundred thousand pounds, cleaning and cook- 
ing the fish, putting them in cans, and ex- 
tracting the oil. Nothing in all the program 
pleased the people more than the moving 
pictures. During the interval between the 
first and second part of the program Mr. 
Jackson announced the events for the week. 
It was a full program, too — Sunday services, 
class meetings, brotherhood and guild meet- 
ings, and another concert in one week. An- 
nouncement was also made of the approaching 
anniversary, on November 26, when £2,000 
would be asked for, for the double purpose of 
paying off the debt and carrying on the work. 
At the beginning of the second part of the 
program, and again at the close, there were 
illustrated hymns — '^0! what a Saviour,'^ and 
^^Onward, Christian soldiers.^^ The people of 
Manchester and Liverpool certainly know how 
to sing, and they do it so heartily. It did my 
soul good to hear them. The concert closed 
at just five minutes past ten, having lasted 
two hours and forty-five minutes; but not a 



58 THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

man, woman, or child left the room during 
the entire program. 

GOOD RESULTS 

The thing that most pleased me about the 
concert was that there seemed to be a divine 
purpose running through it all. ^The people 
come to the concert/^ said one, ^^they get used 
to the place, then they come to the Sunday 
services.'' I was told of many cases where 
the concert had been the almost direct cause 
of leading men to a better life. One of the 
ushers said, ^^It was a concert which brought 
me.'' He had got pretty low down through 
drink — his wife no better — and came one Sat- 
urday night to the concert. Josiah Nix, the 
race-course evangelist, was introduced as a 
man who was going to hold a ten-days' mis- 
sion. ^^I liked what he said, and decided to 
go and hear him. I did go, and was con- 
verted; so were my wife and four children. 
I tell you, our home is a different one now." 
Another usher said, "We got a good lot of 
pledges to-night." Here, as in Manchester, 
they make much of the pledge, taking every 
opportunity to urge it. One man in the Man- 
chester Mission — I think I did not mention 
this in my letter from there — is called the 




REV. CHARLES GARRETT 



CENTKAL HALL, LIVEEPOOL 61 

^Tledge King/' He has secured fifty thousand 
signers. 

CENTRAL HALL AND CHARLES GARRETT 

Mr. Jackson seems to be a man well adapted 
to his work — sees what is to be done and does 
it. He is a graduate of Headingley College, 
and had four years with Peter Thompson in 
the East London Mission. He was with Josiah 
Nix, secretary of Race Course Mission, and 
was the first secretary to the British Chau- 
tauqua. He has been in his present position 
for eight years. Mr. Jackson is peculiarly 
fortunate in his building — Central Hall. It is 
new — has only been in use for two years. It 
was built at a cost of $250,000. There is still 
a debt of some $40,000, but it is so arranged 
that it will be gradually paid off at anni- 
versaries. Central Hall was built as a me- 
morial to Rev. Charles Garrett, the founder 
of the mission and a man whose name is still 
almost a household word in Liverpool — one of 
those rare men who bless any city. His is one 
of the names known in all Methodism. On 
the right hand in the great entrance hallway 
is a bronze tablet, reminding all who pass that 
the hall is a "Memorial to Rev. Charles 
Garrett," and that the Central Hall buildings 



62 THE CHUKCII AND THE SLUM 

were opened December 5, 1905, by the Right 
Honorable Sir Henry Fowler. The building 
is stately and imposing, one of the proud 
structures of the street. It contains not only 
the large auditorium, but a smaller one, with 
seating capacity for seven hundred. There 
are also rooms for various classes and guilds. 
There is a coffee bar, with dining rooms, where 
one hundred and fifty poor girls get luncheon 
between one and two o^ clock, at a less than 
nominal fee. There is a social room for the 
men, with billiard and bagatelle tables. The 
table for bagatelle is one formerly used in a 
taproom in Wales. On Sunday evening the 
large auditorium is filled just as I saw it at 
the concert. Usually there is an overflow 
meeting in the lower hall. Then in the base- 
ment there is a men's meeting, something like 
the meeting I saw in Manchester, only not 
so large. The social agencies include five 
homes for boys and girls, special missions to 
lodging-house men and factory girls, the 
men's shelter, and police court work. Last 
winter quite a unique work was done among 
girls from the theaters in the neighborhood. 
A band plays every Sunday afternoon in the 
open space in front of the great Saint George's 
Hall. Here, as in Manchester, the band 



CENTRAL HALL, LIVERPOOL 66 

renders valuable service. Many a man is 
brought into the Sunday evening meeting 
through the band. I asked a newsboy in 
Saint George^s Hall Square if he could tell me 
where the Central Hall band played on Sun- 
day. ^^Yes, mister/^ said he. ^They play 
just there in front of the steps. They play 
every Sunday afternoon. If you will come 
to-morrow afternoon at four o'clock you will 
hear them.'' 

NUMBERS INCREASING 

The number of communicants in the mission 
is growing rapidly; but the mission is not 
getting its congregation from other places of 
worship. The chairman of the district said, 
not long ago: ^This is a new Methodist con- 
gregation gathered from the streets." Some 
dockers were overheard to say they could not 
recall when they went to a place of worship 
before the Central Hall was built. ^'I have 
not been in a hall or chapel since I was 
wedded/' said one. A worker in the mission 
heard two young men, outside the Hall, one 
Saturday evening, arguing whether it should 
be the Empire Music Hall or the Central Hall. 
(The Empire is a large variety theater.) Find- 
ing it difficult to decide, one of them said, 



66 THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

^Xet's toss up/^ which they did. Central Hall 
won. This is only a sample of what is happen- 
ing every week. 

There are seven halls in all connected with 
the Liverpool Wesleyan Mission, and they 
are, for the most part, in the poorest neigh- 
borhoods of the city. Mr. Jackson has three 
assistant preachers, three deaconesses, and 
seventeen local preachers, and all are busy. 
The class meeting is a most successful agency 
here. There are over fourteen hundred regu- 
lar attendants in class every week. ^^AU our 
people love the class, '^ said Mr. Jackson. The 
motto of the mission seems to be, "We cannot 
have social regeneration without spiritual re- 
generation. '' 

On leaving Liverpool I felt as I did when 
I left Manchester — that a mighty work for 
Christ was being done there. Miracles are 
happening, and the kingdom of righteousness 
is being hastened. 

My next letter will be on the Central Hall 
in Edinburgh, where George Jackson had so 
remarkable a career. 



CHAPTER III 

Central Hall, Edinburgh 

When in Edinburgh five years ago I said 
to our hostess, one Saturday evening: ^ ^To- 
morrow will be our first Sunday in your city. 
Where shall we attend church?'^ After asking 
what church we attended at home, and find- 
ing out that we were Methodists, the good 
lady said: ^^Ah, well, then, you must hear 
Dinsdale Young in Wesley Chapel in the 
morning, and you'll not hear better in Edin- 
burgh. Then, if you like, I should be glad if 
you would hear our minister, Hugh Black, in 
Free Saint George's in the evening.'' George 
Jackson was at that time in the height of his 
popularity at the new Central Hall in the West 
End, almost under the shadow of Castle Hill. 
All three men are now gone from Edinburgh. 
Young is at City Road, London; Black is in 
New York city; and Jackson is in Toronto. 
These three men wielded great influence from 
the pulpits they occupied. They were quite 
different in their type of preaching — Young, 
expository and eloquent; Black, with a touch 
of the mystic in him, poetic and spiritual; 

69 



70 THE CHUKCH AND THE SLUM 

Jackson, keen, incisive, persistently enthu- 
siastic, his words contagious for good, im- 
pressing profoundly all who heard him. 

BEGINNING AND GROWTH 

The history of Central Hall is little else 
than romance. It is what one likes to read 
about and hear. It makes one feel that the 
heroes and prophets are not all dead. The 
hero of Central Hall, Edinburgh, is Rev. 
George Jackson. He came to this city in the 
year 1888 to be pastor of the Wesley an Meth- 
odist Church in Nicolson Square. Mr. Jack- 
son had not occupied the pulpit in Nicolson 
Square many months before he became in- 
spired with the idea of founding another 
Wesleyan Methodist church in this city. He 
was deeply impressed — as many others have 
been — by the many thousands of persons w^ho 
rarely, if ever, enter a place of worship, and 
he felt that, notwithstanding the predomi- 
nant position held by the Presbyterians, Meth- 
odism had a place and work where such con- 
ditions existed. The original aim of Mr. 
Jackson and those who rallied around him 
was to gather a congregation and build a 
church, which, in his own words, 'Vould do 
for the Methodists on the west side of the 




REV. GEORGE JACKSON 



CENTKAL HALL, EDINBUEGH 73 

city what Nicolson Square Church was al- 
ready doing on the east side.^^ The movement, 
when it started, was known as the 'West End 
Mission, '^ but circimastances gradually led to 
its occupying a remarkable and commanding 
position, which it has now held for some time. 

BOLD MOVE FORWARD 

In starting the movement Mr. Jackson was 
ably assisted by a few energetic members of 
the Nicolson Square congregation. The Albert 
Hall in Shandwick Place, a few doors to the 
east of Saint George's Free Church, was se- 
lected as a meeting place. The building, which 
was then used as a second or third rate place 
of entertainment, was rented at first for Sun- 
days only, the opening service being held in 
November, 1888. For the first few months 
the attendance was small, but ere long there 
were evident signs of real progress. In June, 
1890, a bold step was taken, when Synod Hall 
in Castle Terrace was engaged for the Sunday 
evening services. The hall, which is one of the 
largest in the city, holds about two thousand 
persons, and there were many who thought 
Mr. Jackson's venture in entering this hall 
was far from judicious, the mission at that 
time being only two years old. But the wis- 



T4 THE CHUECH AND THE SLUM 

dom of the step was soon apparent to all. In 
a remarkably short time ^^Mr. Jackson's 
Synod Hall Meeting' ' (as it was called) be- 
came one of the Sunday evening institutions 
of Edinburgh. Week after week the hall was 
filled to overflowing; and from year to year 
the ^ ^meeting'' continued to maintain its 
popularity — one of the most notable features, 
perhaps, being the large number of young 
people who attended. The growth in the 
actual communicant membership of the mis- 
sion increased by years, as follows: In 1889 
it was 50; by the following year it had in- 
creased to 100; in 1891 it rose to 201; in 1892 
it was 290; and by 1893 it had reached 357. 
Since then, and up to the time of the building 
of Central Hall, it increased steadily until it 
reached nearly a thousand. 

Almost from the very beginning this mis- 
sion seemed to have the good will of the com- 
munity. This was due in large measure, if 
not altogether, to the personality and attitude 
of Mr. Jackson. From the outset he depre- 
cated the idea of the mission being in any 
way antagonistic to other religious bodies. 
"We are not here to make Presbyterians into 
Methodists,'' he said. 'Trom the first day 
of our existence we have set our faces like 



CENTEAL HALL, EDINBURGH 75 

flint against proselyting in any form. Christ^s 
army is not any the stronger merely because 
one hundred of his soldiers are persuaded to 
change their regiment, although, of course, 
there may be individual cases in which the 
change is an advantage all round. I often tell 
my people that if ever a day should come 
(which God in his mercy forbid!) when all 
that we can do is to lead saints to change 
their ism, and not sinners to change their 
lives, they will have to look out for a new 
superintendent. '' These and similar broad- 
minded declarations were warmly recipro- 
cated by leading Presbyterians, ministers and 
la3anen alike. Many gave Mr. Jackson a 
hearty Godspeed and substantial assistance 
in a variety of ways. Among the ministers 
who cooperated with him may be named Dr. 
Alexander Whyte, Professor Marcus Dods, 
Dr. John Watson, Dr. George Matheson, Dr. 
Stalker, and Dr. Denney. 

Mr. Jackson did much to increase his popu- 
larity and influence here by his writings. His 
book First Things First, which has passed 
through several editions, was warmly received 
by the people of Edinburgh. This book is a 
collection of addresses to young men. It 
offers good opportunity for insight into Mr. 



76 THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

Jackson's methods of thought as well as his 
style. It displays something of the gifts 
which gave him such meed of popularity here 
in the Scottish capital. All his discourses had 
a manly ring about them. Without being 
sensational, or going out of his way to make 
himself singular, he was entirely unconven- 
tional. He is a man of high ideals, and great 
earnestness distinguishes all his efforts. With- 
out being an orator in the ordinary sense, he 
is a highly effective speaker; his style is terse 
rather than grandiloquent, and incisive rather 
than rhetorical. 

It was through the ability, zeal, and or- 
ganizing skill of Rev. George Jackson that 
Central Hall was built and finally opened in 
October, 1901. When the question of the 
building was first mooted, it was suggested 
that an adequate mission house could be 
erected at a cost not exceeding $75,000. At 
that time a scheme so bold as what was even- 
tually adopted was not even dreamed of. 
But the size of the congregation, together 
with the magnificent opportunity, led Mr. 
Jackson to push his way toward the final 
erection of Central Hall, which cost $250,000. 
It has an audience room which will accom- 
modate two thousand people, and is admirably 



CENTEAL HALL, EDINBUKGH 77 

adapted in all ways to the purpose of the mis- 
sion. There is still a debt — rather a large one 
— but, with the rental of the stores underneath 
and the proceeds of the anniversaries, the 
debt is in such shape as not to be a burden. 
For many of the above facts I am indebted 
to a very comprehensive article which ap- 
peared in the British Monthly of October, 
1901, written shortly before the opening of 
the hall. 

EXPRESSIONS OF GOOD WILL 

It is not too much to say that all the prom- 
ises for the success of Central Hall made at 
its opening have been fulfilled. Mr. Jackson 
was with the mission for five years after the 
opening of the new building. His popularity 
and infiuence continued to increase up to the 
time he left. Much joy has been expressed 
because of a recent announcement in the 
Methodist Recorder, that after two years 
more in Toronto, Mr. Jackson will return to 
England. Where his work will be is not now 
known, but good opportunities will open to 
him. 

The thing that most impresses me here is 
that the mission is totally different from what 
I saw in Manchester and Liverpool. In fact. 



78 THE CIIUKCII AND THE SLUM 

it is not a mission at all, in the sense of em- 
phasizing rescue work. It is simply a great 
people's church, quite similar in character to 
Spurgeon's Tabernacle in London. Of course, 
constant appeal is being made to men to sur- 
render their lives to Jesus Christ, but the 
mission is not in touch with the slum. One 
of the stewards said, in reply to a question: 
^^O, yes, Mr. Jackson did try once to get in 
some of the slum people. They came to one 
service, but they did not come again — at least 
not many of them.'' Another steward said: 
^^You would hardly expect slum people to 
come here. These are respectable folk who 
come to Central Hall." Yet, in its way. Cen- 
tral Hall is doing a remarkable work for the 
common people — the artisan class, the fairly 
well-to-do working people. The venerable 
Dr. Alexander Whyte said to me: ^^Yes, it's 
a great work they are doing in Central Hall. 
We all look with favor upon it." Dr. John 
Kelman, successor to Hugh Black, whom I 
heard with great delight on Sunday morning 
— a man of rare preaching power, in fact, the 
most popular preacher in Edinburgh to-day — 
said, when asked what Central Hall was doing 
that the churches could not do: '^It is doing a 
great deal. There is a freedom and a brother- 



CENTEAL HALL, EDINBUEGH 19 

hood about it which the people hke. It 
reaches them in large numbers. George Jack- 
son is a remarkable man. I believe in him 
down to his boots, and the present superin- 
tendent is carrying on the work well.'^ Pro- 
fessor Paterson, whom I had the pleasure of 
meeting at Des Moines, Iowa, a year ago last 
May, when he was attending the Presbyterian 
General Assembly as fraternal representative 
from the Scottish Kirk, said to me last even- 
ing that Mr. Jackson's work in Central Hall 
was a real contribution to the Christian work 
of the city. He felt there could not be too 
much work of that kind. From all classes of 
people I have heard only good words for 
Central Hall. It has the confidence of the 
community to a remarkable degree, but it is 
not doing rescue work, as it is understood in 
the London missions and in Manchester and 
Liverpool. In fact, the only church that is 
doing anything of that sort here is the Estab- 
lished Church of Scotland. I was in one of 
their Homes last evening, and was greatly 
delighted with what I saw. A little rescue 
work has been done by the Church Army of 
the English Church; and, of course, the Sal- 
vation Army here, as everywhere, is going to 
the very lowest. I ought to say for Central 



80 THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

Hall that, a month ago, meetings were opened 
in the Alhambra Theater — a rather low va- 
riety place — under its auspices, for the pur- 
pose of reaching the slum district. The 
present superintendent, Rev. F. H. Benson, 
is very anxious about this work, but so far 
the venture has been a doubtful success. 
One of the stewards reported last evening 
that there were only two hundred present at 
the meeting, and ^^half of them children. '^ The 
slum districts exist in Edinburgh; some of 
them are as bad as anything to be found in 
East End, London ; but the churches have not 
yet seriously grappled with the problem. 
This has been said to me frankly by several 
men of influence in this city. 

I am glad to be able to report that Central 
Hall, under Mr. Benson, the new superin- 
tendent, who has been here now for little 
more than twelve months, is in the high tide 
of success. The mission is certainly for- 
tunate in securing a man to succeed Mr. Jack- 
son who seems to have just the qualities of 
leadership necessary to success here. Mr. 
Benson is a young man, thirty-four years of 
age, and has been out of college (Headingley) 
only ten years. I heard him on Sunday night, 
when the hall was packed. He preached from 




REV. F. H. BENSON 



CENTKAL HALL, EDINBURGH 83 

the text, ^^And they left their father Zebedee 
in the boat/' The sermon was a discrminating, 
strong, and forceful putting of call and re- 
sponsible choice. The appeal to young men 
to hear the call of Jesus Christ, surrendering 
everything that he asked, was simply tre- 
mendous. The after-service continued for half 
an hour, about two hundred remaining. It 
was a wholesome, impressive service, but noth- 
ing in it touched me so much as the prayer of 
a white-haired old man who, in broad Scotch, 
prayed ^'for the bairns who have gone awa' 
quenching the Spirit.'' Immediately follow- 
ing the after-service was a social hour in the 
guild room, in which perhaps a hundred young 
men and women, most of them living in lodg- 
ing houses, sat about tables, had a cup of tea, 
and conversed. There was some singing, 
joined in by the whole company, and a solo 
by one of the members of the choir. 

CONCERT AND MEN's MEETING 

On Friday evening I attended one of the 
guild meetings of the mission, which is some- 
thing like one of our Epworth League services. 
I also attended the concert on Saturday night, 
which was quite unlike the one I attended in 
Liverpool. It was simply a high-grade con- 



84 THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

cert, such as one might hear in any good 
music hall, the admission being a shilling, 
sixpence, and threepence. Half the house 
was at threepence; only a few had reserved 
seats at a shilling. The only thing about the 
concert which indicated that it was under 
church auspices was the fact that announce- 
ment of the services for the following day was 
on the program. 

The men's meeting on Sunday afternoon 
was a great affair. There were a thousand 
present, and an address was given by Mr. 
Andrew Young, head teacher of the West 
Canongate School, which is located in one of 
the worst districts of Edinburgh. He spoke 
on ^^The Rights of Child Life.'' He men- 
tioned as the fundamental rights of the child 
(1) the right to be well-born; (2) the right to 
live; (3) the right to have a good home; 

(4) the right to the kindness of a mother; 

(5) the right to a father who respects his own 
life. He spoke for forty minutes on the sec- 
ond point, 'The Right to Live." He called 
attention to the fearful mortality of child life 
in the slum districts of Edinburgh, and gave 
most pathetic illustrations of cases which had 
come under his notice in the vicinity of his 
school. He portrayed in a most thrilling way 



CENTKAL HALL, EDINBURGH 85 

the awful ravages of drink, but maintained 
that mothers' going out to work was responsi- 
ble for kiUing more infants and children than 
drink. Mr. Young is a man about forty years 
of age, and reminds me very much of Jacob 
Riis in his manner of presenting the cause of 
the poor. I have heard nothing since I landed 
which was more of a real message than this 
address of Mr. Young. 

At the close of the service I waited for a 
private interview with the speaker. He told 
me much of his work in the vicinity of North 
Canongate and of his methods of dealing with 
the poor families in his school parish. He is 
a man, as I learned before hearing him, who 
has had offers of much more lucrative school 
positions, but he feels that he has a real call 
to the work he is doing in the North Canon- 
gate district. Among other questions I asked 
him how he ever got out of the conditions 
which he had described as so completely 
shutting him in when he was nine years of 
age. His answer I shall never forget. He 
said: ^^ It was this way: when I was a lad of 
about seventeen I was touched by the Moody 
meetings.'' Is not this about the finest fruit- 
age of the great revival, or spiritual awaken- 
ing, that a youth, here and there, is touched, 



86 THE CIIUKCH AND THE SLUM 

who a quarter of a century later, because of 
what happened in the revival, leads in some 
great moral reform or takes an heroic stand 
for righteousness? Mr. Young's explanation 
of how he got out of awful depths to a position 
of honor, distinction, and influence in educa- 
tion was simply this: ^^ I was touched by the 
Moody meetings." How many there are — 
some we know about and some we do not — 
who are even now being touched by the earnest 
spiritual message of some faithful and devoted 
pastor or evangelist. It was just such a touch 
that gaye to the world a Spurgeon. 




CENTRAL MISSION HALL, BIRMINGHAM 



CHAPTER IV 

Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, and 
Birmingham 

Coming down from Edinburgh to Leeds, I 
found conditions much Hke those I had seen 
in Manchester and Liverpool. Leeds is the 
fifth city of England in point of population. 
It lies in the center of a richly productive 
agricultural and grazing region noted for its 
extensive coal fields. It has exceptional rail- 
road facilities and water connection with both 
east and west coasts. Located not far from 
an old Roman station, Leeds has been an im- 
portant center since the times of the Saxons. 
Its first charter was granted by King John, 
and dates from 1208. As a manufacturing 
city it is chiefly known as the great center of 
the British woolen trade. The iron industry 
has important place in the city^s activities; 
there are also extensive manufactures of 
earthenware, leather goods, silks, paper, glass, 
and fire brick. It is claimed that the an- 
nual value of the Leeds products is about 
$60,000,000. 

89 



90 THE CliUKCH AND THE SLUM 

METHODISM IN LEEDS 

Two generations ago this thriving York- 
shire city was fairly overflowing with Meth- 
odists. A vicar of the time said, ^ ^Methodism 
is the estabUshed church of Leeds /^ He was 
not far wrong, for in those days every seventh 
man was a Methodist. Right in the heart of 
the city and within a few minutes' walk of 
each other were four Wesle3^an chapels, with 
seating capacity of two thousand each, and 
all filled every Sunday. Fifty years later a 
very different condition of things existed. 
The four chapels were almost deserted. The 
attendance of all four was not more than the 
attendance of one had been in the years of 
prosperity. Great manufactories had been 
built in the locality, and people of the better- 
to-do class had moved to the outlying dis- 
tricts. The chapels were in a sad state of 
discouragement. 

The Methodists of Leeds faced the very 
problem we have been facing in these recent 
years in our larger cities. We have solved 
the problem in some places by selling our 
downtown churches and using the money to 
build new uptown churches. The Wesleyans 
determined upon another method. They 
turned one of the chapels — Wesley — into a 




REV. C. W. ANDREWS 



LEEDS 93 

mission. This was seventeen years ago. Later, 
two others — Saint Peter's and Oxford Place — 
were added. The problem of Saint Peter's is 
still unsolved. This chapel is in the slummiest 
part of the city, crowded with Irish and Jew- 
ish population. At Wesley and Oxford Place 
the success has been most marked. Every 
Sunday the auditoriums at these centers are 
crowded to overflowing. Oxford Place is per- 
haps the largest of all the halls. It is the old 
chapel done over, but at an expense of $150,- 
000, and presents a stately appearance even 
when looked at in comparison with the fine 
Town Hall just opposite. The growth in 
membership in these three missionized chapels, 
from 1890 to 1906, was from 301 to 1,988— a 
net increase of 1,687. But the growth in mem- 
bership is only a slight indication of the actual 
work and growth of Methodism in the down- 
town district of Leeds. The prevailing note 
seventeen years ago was utter discouragement. 
This statement is made on the authority of 
representative men who know the facts. The 
prevailing note to-day is one of triumph. 
Thus in less than twenty years Wesleyan 
Methodists have solved the problem of the 
deserted chapels in the downtown district of 
Leeds. Of course, there is much yet to be 



94 THE CnUECH AND THE SLUM 

done; but victory is in the air, and one cannot 
be on the ground twenty-four hours without 
feehng the thrill of conquest. 

REV. SAMUEL CHADWICK 

Within the past two weeks I have read 
with care the reports of twelve of the Wes- 
leyan Mission Halls, but none has impressed 
me more than that of the Leeds Mission by 
Rev. Samuel Chadwick, who until the last 
Conference had been for sixteen years the in- 
spiring superintendent of this mission. Mr. 
Chadwick's description of how he became a 
missioner is certainly interesting and sugges- 
tive. His first work was as a lay missioner 
in Rossendale, with a population of quarry- 
men and factory workers. There he faced 
the problem of bringing the godless and in- 
different to the house of God. In spite of his 
best sermons, and after giving himself with- 
out stint to every form of religious activity, 
members were stolid and outsiders indifferent. 
He grew desperate. Then came a revelation, 
a crisis, and a baptism. In looking for guid- 
ance in Christian service he was led to study 
the resurrection of Lazarus and its results. 
For weeks the story possessed him. The 
miracle seemed to accomplish just what was 



LEEDS 95 

needed in Rossendale. He felt that if they 
could only get Jesus and Lazarus into touch 
with each other they would see wonders. 

"My heart/ ^ he says, ^ 'began to cry for the 
big, strapping fellows abandoned and buried 
beyond all hope. The Lazaruses in that 
valley were very many, and it seemed as if 
my heart would break. If only we could get 
a Lazarus! Then people would flock to see 
a man who had been raised from the dead. 
. . . With unwearying persistence we prayed 
that the Lord would save the worst, and send 
a man so dead and buried in sin that his 
wickedness was offensively notorious and 
overwhelmingly bad. God heard our cry. 
The man came of his own accord and volun- 
teered to sign the pledge. He was a dreadful 
character; everybody knew him and every- 
body believed it impossible for him to be any 
better. He was the terror of the neighbor- 
hood, and did the most extraordinary things 
out of sheer deviltry. A fortnight after he had 
signed the pledge he came to the service and 
our hearts nearly stood still as he walked 
down the aisle and flung himself at the com- 
munion rail. He was gloriously saved, and 
there was a shout among the redeemed that 
night. We got our Lazarus. . . . We had not 



96 THE CIIUKCH AND THE SLUM 

long to wait for the crowd. The news of his 
conversion spread hke wildfire. It was dis- 
cussed in every public house and every barber 
shop in the district. Hundreds came to 
church, not to see Jesus, but the man he had 
raised from the dead. A glorious revival fol- 
lowed, in which man}^ were turned to God. 
That was my first great discovery. Lazarus 
solves the problem of empty churches. He 
is the greatest attraction and the strongest 
argument. Wherever there is the continual 
operation of saving power, bringing dead men 
out of their graves, the work of the Lord will 
prosper. For this power there is no substitute, 
and it never fails. There are no languishing 
churches where souls are saved. People be- 
lieve when they see graves opened and the 
dead come forth in newness of life. This has 
been the first fundamental of my working 
creed.'' ^Tt is no exaggeration,'' says Mr. 
Chadwick, ^^to say that all I know of mission 
work was discovered in that revival." 

The second fundamental of his working 
creed — and he has only two — ^was found in a 
very different way. It was at Clydebank, 
Glasgow, a new town which had sprung up 
with the rapidity of one of our Western Amer- 
ican cities because of the large industrial 




DR. H. J. POPE 

General Secretary Wesleyan Home 
Mission Fund 



LEEDS 99 

works which had been planted there. The 
Lazarus was soon found, but the ^^epoch- 
making event/' as Mr. Chad wick calls it, was 
a bit of temperance work which he undertook 
single-handed. He found that the brewers 
had seized the most strategic positions for 
public houses, and when the spring sessions 
came round they made application for five 
new licenses. Temperance workers in the 
community were discouraged because of pre- 
vious failures, and the young missioner saw 
that if anything was done he must do it. 
The experience in the court room is best told 
in Mr. Chadwick's own words: ^Tt was my 
first appearance in court. The proceeding 
was unusual, and there was a wrangle over a 
question of order, in which I scored. The 
barrister who held the brief for the applicants 
made great sport of me, and everybody ex- 
cept myself seemed to enjoy the fun; but the 
Lord delivered him into my hands. He 
wound up his banter with an attack upon me 
as a minister, and in mocking tones instructed 
me in my pastoral duties as a shepherd of the 
flock of Christ. It was hard to bear, but I sat 
still. At last he turned to me, and with with- 
ering scorn said: T should like to ask this 
young-looking shepherd. What hast thou done 



100 THE CIIUKCII AND THE SLUM 

with the few sheep in the wilderness?' Quick 
as thought I sprang to my feet and flung out 
the answer, ^Don't you trouble about my 
sheep; I am after the wolf to-day/ Then the 
laugh was on the other side, and those sedate 
old magistrates cheered like schoolboys. We 
got the wolf, but more important than the 
fact that for three years we prevented any 
new license being granted was that on my 
feet in that court I discovered the second 
working principle of a missioner's life. From 
that day I have regarded it as an essential 
part of my sacred calling to hunt the wolf as 
well as to care for the sheep.'' 

It was from such training and experience, 
and with the feeling that outcasts are not 
difficult to reach when the church really wants 
them, that Mr. Chadwick went to Leeds in 
1890, an evangelist and a social reformer who 
thoroughly loved to track a wolf. From the 
beginning, however, he emphasized the fact 
that conversion is the key to the problem of 
personal salvation and church prosperity. 
The transformation which came about in 
Wesley Chapel, Saint Peter's, and Oxford 
Place has already been described. For six- 
teen years Mr. Chadwick, who is regarded as 
one of the strongest preachers of the Wes- 



LEEDS 101 

leyan Church, has maintained in Leeds, at the 
sessions of the Conference and at mission an- 
niversaries, that the mission of a mission is 
to save the lost, attack the devil, and bring 
in the kingdom of God. His definition of 
mission theology is so thoroughly pertinent 
that I cannot forbear giving two quotations: 
^^An evangelistic mission implies an evan- 
gelical faith. A theology that is not mission- 
ary is of no use in a world like ours. The 
frozen abstractions of metaphysics are as 
powerless to save as the dead creeds of tra- 
dition. The speculations of theologians must 
be tested by their power to heal and save. 
Missions exist for the lost. Their work is not 
educational and social, but spiritual and re- 
demptive.^' ^ ^Anything less than Deity is 
powerless to save men from sin. If Jesus be 
not God, he may be a great philosopher, a 
superb idealist, an unrivaled guide to the new 
order of life, but he is useless as a Saviour. 
Let the new theologies prove themselves in 
missionary campaigns among the lost. Mis- 
sions have no use for a Christ that cannot 
save to the uttermost all who come unto him. 
For the same reason we hold to the complete 
and final authority of the Scriptures. We 
cannot go to the perishing with the 'perhaps' 



102 THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

of balanced probabilities. We need the cer- 
tainty of a Thus saith the Lord.' '' Mr. Chad- 
wick's work in Leeds is hardly surpassed by 
any. 

My visit to Oxford Place was on one of the 
class-meeting nights, where from many rooms 
there rang out inspiring hymns and gospel 
songs. The present superintendent, Rev. C. 
W. Andrews, has recently come from a most 
successful work at Bolton. Oxford Chambers 
adjoins the chapel proper. Here are the head- 
quarters of the Wesley Guild, which is the 
Epworth League of English Methodism. 
Headingley College, situated in an attractive 
suburb twenty minutes' ride from Leeds, is 
an institution of which English Methodism 
may be justly proud. Dr. Banks and Pro- 
fessor Findlay, distinguished and honored 
professors in this college, are both ardent 
friends of the mission halls. Dr. Banks has 
been chairman of the Leeds Mission from the 
beginning, and is a strong believer in the work 
which is being done. On leaving Leeds and 
thinking over what I had seen and what I had 
been told of the transformations which had 
come about in the sixteen years in these de- 
serted chapels, it seemed a real fulfillment of 
the prophecy, ^The desert shall rejoice, and 



BRADFORD 105 

blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abund- 
antly, and rejoice even with joy and singing.'^ 

BRADFORD MISSION 

In the late afternoon I went by express 
train to Bradford, a thirty-minute run, where 
I spent three hours with Rev. H. M. Nield 
in Eastbrook Hall. On leaving Manchester 
Mr. Collier said to me: ^ ^Whatever else you 
do, you must go and see Nield's Brotherhood 
in Bradford. It is the greatest thing in Eng- 
land.'^ Later, a mission worker said: ^^Have 
you been to Bradford? They have a great 
Brotherhood there, made by a race horse.'' 
Another said: ^The success at Bradford is all 
due to a fortunate tip on the races.'' I had 
heard so much about the man and his methods 
that I was quite prepared to find Mr. Nield 
something of a sensationalist. He was in 
conference with a dozen of his associates when 
I arrived, which gave me ample opportunity 
to see the main features of the glorious hall 
before our interview. 

EASTBROOK HALL 

Eastbrook Hall is new; it was opened only 
three years ago. Its appearance, facing the 
street, is quite like a first-class music hall. 



106 THE CHUECII AND THE SLUM 

The auditorium is reached by a broad en- 
trance-way, and is on the plan of the Ber- 
mondsey (London) Mission Hall. There are 
sittings for something over two thousand. 
The room is well lighted and has a most ex- 
cellent system of ventilation. The lower part 
of the building faces two streets. It is de- 
voted to shops and offices. The upper stories 
are divided up into halls, classrooms, club- 
rooms, and rooms for the Men^s Institute. 
The building is a marvel when one takes into 
account the cost — $150,000. It represents 
more for the money than anything else I have 
seen. 

A TIP ON THE RACES 

After taking tea with Mr. Nield and his 
associates, and visiting, under his guidance, 
parts of the building I had not seen, I spent 
an hour with him in the vestry. When we 
were alone I said, ^^Mr. Nield, I want you to 
tell me the story of your race horse of which 
I have heard so much.'' After some hesita- 
tion he told me this story: ^^Some two years 
and a half ago, shortly after this hall was 
opened and the week before the races, I an- 
nounced that I would speak on Sunday after- 
noon at three o'clock to men, on the subject, 
'What'll Win?' We had worked up the meet- 




REV. H. M. NIELD 



BRADFOED 109 

ing pretty carefully, advertising it well, and 
the hall was nearly filled. In beginning my 
address, I said: ^Men, what are you here for? 
You certainly do not expect a Wesleyan 
parson to give you a tip on the races/ Then, 
pulling out of my pocket a card which had 
been sent to me anonymously the day before, 
I said : ^Evidently someone does expect me to 
do just that, for I have received this card, 
which reads: ^'As to your subject for Sunday 
afternoon on What ^11 Win? would say that 
Hackley's Pride is good for the Cambridge- 
shire/^ ' Well, there was a regular guffaw 
all over the house. Hackley's Pride was a 
fourth-rate horse which nobody expected any- 
thing of. The thing that happened was this: 
On the following Wednesday Hackley's Pride 
won the Cambridgeshire. The next Sunday 
afternoon Eastbrook Hall was filled long be- 
fore the hour for the meeting, and hundreds 
were turned away. It has been full every 
Sunday since. Over five thousand men have 
joined the Brotherhood within two years and 
a half, and there are now actually 3,725 mem- 
bers. All wear a blue and gold button with 
the letters 'E. B.^ on it.'' 

The growth and success of this Brother- 
hood is certainly a triimaph. It is known 



110 THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

throughout all England. No feature of the 
mission hall work, apart from the social side 
of Mr. Collier^s activity, is spoken of so fre- 
quently as the Brotherhood at Bradford. It 
is the phenomenal success of this Brotherhood, 
and of others which have sprung up because 
of it, which led Mr. Perks to suggest the idea 
of a federated Brotherhood for all Methodism. 
After the experience of that hour in the ves- 
try, during which I talked with Mr. Nield 
concerning the character of his methods and 
the nature of his appeal, I was thoroughly 
convinced that there was nothing of the sen- 
sationalist about the man. He is simply a 
true, brave, fearless preacher of the gospel. 

A FEW FACTS 

The following crisp paragraphs from the 
latest report of this mission are suggestive: 

^The Eastbrook Brotherhood has enrolled 
over five thousand members in two and a half 
years. Brotherhoods have sprung up all over 
the city, but the ^E. B.' reports 3,725 members 
at the present time." 

"The Eastbrook Women^s Meeting has en- 
rolled over two thousand members in eighteen 
months, and has to-day 1,643 members on its 
registers." 



SHEFFIELD AND BIKMNGHAM 111 

^'During the three years the hall has been 
opened, 1,184 penitents have passed through 
the inquiry room. The ^soul-converting power' 
characterizes the whole work of the mission/' 

^'A hving church has been built up. When 
the hall was opened Eastbrook had 334 names 
on its class books. It has now over a thou- 
sand. The class moneys alone last year 
totaled £276, 2s. 2dr 

''By the open-air campaign of last summer 
we touched between two and three thousand 
souls a week.'' 

SHEFFIELD MISSION 

The work in Sheffield is in a transition state. 
The Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening 
meetings are still held in the great Albert Hall. 
The other activities of the mission are cen- 
tered in Montgomery Hall, some two squares 
away. A fine new Central Hall is in process of 
erection on Norfolk Street, a prominent 
thoroughfare of the city and right in the 
center of the city's population. 

THE WORK IN BIRMINGHAM 

The stateliest and most imposing of all 
the mission halls is Central Hall, Birmingham, 
erected a few years ago at a cost of $350,000. 
This building is of red terra cotta. In ex- 



112 THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

ternal form and in interior arrangement it is a 
perfect building. The first story is all occu- 
pied by stores, some fifteen of them, and of a 
good type. The auditorium has something 
over two thousand sittings and is admirably 
arranged throughout. The Synod Hall, on the 
left of the central entrance, is used for all or- 
dinary meetings. Here on Thursday evening 
I heard a sermon by the superintendent, Rev. 
F. L. Wiseman, who made such a fine impres- 
sion in this country four years ago, when he 
came as fraternal delegate to the General 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South. His leadership in the Christian For- 
ward Movement in Birmingham is recognized 
by all. No one had stronger words of praise 
for him and for his work than Dr. J. H. 
Jowett, of Carres Lane Congregational Church, 
with whom I had an interview in his vestry 
and whose prayer meeting I attended before 
going to the preaching service in Central 
Hall. Mr. Wiseman is a strong preacher, 
an inspiring leader, and a Christian statesman 
of the best type. It has greatly impressed me 
that the Wesleyan Church is able to command, 
as it does, so many of its strongest men for the 
superintendency of its mission halls and at 
such meager salaries — the highest, as I under- 



BIKMNGHAM 113 

stand it, being $1,250 and house. I cannot but 
wonder what would happen in some of our great 
American cities if we could command so large 
a proportion of our strongest men for churches 
or mission halls in downtown districts. 

SEA HORSE HALL 

The Birmingham Mission emphasizes most 
strongly that evangelization must be the life 
and soul of the mission. Social work, too, is 
emphasized here. A labor yard is maintained, 
and an employment bureau. The labor yard 
is at Sea Horse Hall, which was formerly a 
public house, one of the most disreputable 
haunts of vice in the city and possessed of an 
exceedingly unenviable notoriety. One could 
hardly wish to hear a more romantic story 
than that of the transformation of this down- 
town tavern into a most effective mission 
center. What was once the dancing saloon is 
now the hall where gospel meetings are held; 
what was once the bar parlor is now an em- 
ployment office; and the malt house has been 
transformed into a shelter for destitute men. 
Last year 398 men were employed in the Sea 
Horse woodyard. Another notorious public 
house, the Beehive, has been similarly trans- 
formed within the past year. 



114 THE CIIUKCH AND THE SLUM 

This transformation process is going on all 
over England. It is made possible through 
the fact that the English government is just 
now reducing the number of public houses, in 
some quarters greatly reducing them. As soon 
as a license is withdrawn the public house is 
vacant. There is nothing for it to do. The 
property is not valuable for any other business 
and is usually for sale cheap. In a goodly 
number of instances the mission workers have 
seen a real opportunity in the vacant property 
because of its strategic location and have pur- 
chased it, transforming its uses in the manner 
described above. Dr. Jowett spoke to me with 
much enthusiasm of these transformations by 
which an instrument of darkness is made to 
be an instrument of light. 




LEYSIAN MISSION HALL, LONDON 



CHAPTER V 
London Halls 

During my last week in England I had the 
privilege of looking into five of the great mis- 
sion hall centers in London — Leysian Hall in 
City Road, the most expensive of all the halls ; 
West London Mission in Great Queen Street, 
made famous by the preaching and marvelous 
leadership of Hugh Price Hughes; the East 
London Central Mission in Stepney, where 
Peter Thompson has been working with sub- 
lime daring for more than twenty years to re- 
deem a district which has been described as 
the ^^black patch'^; the South London Mission 
in Bermondsey, one of the Meccas to which 
all students of mission halls go, and where 
Rev. Henry T. Meakin has for many years 
superintended a mighty work for the clearing 
up of dark places; and then the Deptford and 
Greenwich Mission, well known through the 
inspiring leadership of Rev. J. Gregory Mantle. 

What can I say in this brief letter of the 
things seen in the five days and nights which 
I devoted to these five centers of evangelistic 
and social activity? A letter for each mission 

117 



118 THE CHUKCH AND THE SLUM 

would not be too much, but, fearing that my 
readers may become weary, I feel that I must 
close the series with this letter. Perhaps I can 
best give some idea of the impression made 
upon me by summing up briefly the work 
and condition of each, and calling attention 
to two or three distinctive and outstanding 
features of the work as I saw it. 

Arriving in the great English metropolis on 
Saturday evening, I took time only to get 
established in my hotel; then, taking a hur- 
ried supper, I went directly to Leysian Hall. 
This stately and magnificently imposing hall 
is on the famous City Road, and only five 
minutes' walk from the cathedral of Meth- 
odism and the sacred spot where lie the mortal 
remains of our great founder. Leysian Hall 
is unique. It is a mission hall and a social 
settlement house combined. In its founding 
it had in it the culture and far-reaching 
Christian purpose of Dr. W. F. Moulton, who 
inspired the boys in Leys School, Cambridge, 
to learn the lesson of brotherhood and ^^the 
skill to draw to light the hidden good.'' The 
other man was Hugh Price Hughes, whose 
counsel was sought in the selection of the first 
headquarters, in White Cross Street. 

The spacious auditorium of the present 




REV. J. ASH PARSONS 



LONDON HALLS 121 

building was opened by the Prince and 
Princess of Wales on July 11, 1904. The 
occasion was interesting and inspiring. Dukes, 
knights, and eminent churchmen were there 
to present purses to Her Royal Highness. It 
was a great day for the Leys boys, who were 
to have in this building rooms which should 
be headquarters for their settlement work. 
It was nearly a year before the entire building 
was finished and the great organ, costing 
$8,000, was formally dedicated. Even Amer- 
ican Methodists, who are accustomed to seeing 
and doing big things, can hardly go to the 
opposite side of City Road and gaze at this 
magnificent structure (which cost, with the 
ground it occupies, $600,000) without feeling 
that these brothers of ours across the sea are 
not without vision and courage. But the im- 
pression made by looking at the outside of 
Leysian Hall is not to be compared with what 
one sees on entering. It was 7 : 15 on Saturday 
evening when I stepped inside the main en- 
trance and asked for the superintendent, Rev. 
J. Ash Parsons. The entrance-way was 
crowded, and on reaching the inside I saw 
people hurrying up the stairway to get seats 
for the concert which was to begin in fifteen 
minutes. The concert itself was very similar 



122 THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

in character to the one I had seen in Liver- 
pool. The entrance fee, including program, 
was a penny; but even at this fee the concert 
more than pays expenses. To me the most 
thrillingly interesting feature of the evening 
was a twelve-minute temperance address by 
Mr. Parsons. This was given between the 
first and second parts of the program. It was 
based upon certain facts disclosed in a series 
of articles appearing in the Tribune on ^The 
Black Stain/' or child mortality, by George 
R. Sims. There was hardly a moment when 
the silence was not almost oppressive as Mr. 
Parsons plumped facts, figures, and concrete 
cases at that audience. When he came to his 
closing sentence of appeal he was cheered to 
the echo. 

During the evening, and again on Monday, 
I looked through the establishment. There 
is almost a bewildering labyrinth of rooms, 
but every room has its use. Often a room 
must do duty for several interests. The mis- 
sion is crowded in all departments, and the 
departments are many. A list of the agencies 
which was handed me included sixty-one 
items — among them the Coal Club, the Thrift 
Club, the Penny Bank, the Lantern Services, 
Public House Visitation, Dinner Hour Serv- 




KEV. PETER THOMPSON 



LONDON HALLS 125 

ices, and the Guild of Prayer. Five years ago, 
when I was in London, this mission was a very 
small affair; now it has a communicant mem- 
bership of 1,887. Many homes in this part of 
London are touched and influenced by the 
gospel of social and spiritual regeneration 
which is here preached. 

The third anniversary of the men^s meeting 
of this mission was held the last week of 
October — a meeting quite like the Eastbrook 
Brotherhood of Bradford — and was presided 
over by the Lord Chief Justice, who delivered 
a most worthy address on the ^^Brotherhood 
of Man,^' in which he showed how men^s 
meetings like the one in Leysian Hall may 
contribute to the realization of the highest 
ideals of human brotherhood. Before the an- 
niversary closed, the Lord Chief Justice, at 
his own request, was admitted to membership 
and decorated with the button badge of the 
Brotherhood. 

EAST LONDON MISSION 

The story of Peter Thompson and his 
heroic work in East End has been told so 
often that I need not repeat it here. What 
a man of God he is! It is almost worth while 
to cross the Atlantic to grasp his strong hand 



12G THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

and see the flash of his keen, kindly eyes. I 
shall never forget the half-hour with him in 
the new hall of which he is so justly proud. 
It was no ordinary event for that part of 
London when, one day last summer, the Wes- 
leyan Conference met in the glorious audi- 
torium for the formal opening exercises. The 
front part of the building is not yet com- 
pleted. It is hoped that it will be finished by 
the end of the coming simamer. The cost of 
the whole building will be $180,000. The 
membership, not including juniors, is nearly 
two thousand. ^The work of this mission, ^^ 
said a prominent Wesleyan, ^^touches bottom. 
It reaches the very lowest. ^^ Old Mahogany 
Bar and Paddy's Goose (public houses trans- 
formed into missions) will continue to render 
noble service, and many a man through them 
will go to the new hall, perhaps to a concert 
first, such as I saw there on Monday evening, 
and then to the men's meeting or to the 
service on Sunday evening. The building is 
not finished yet, but when it is all completed, 
and the forces of the mission thoroughly or- 
ganized under the magnificent leadership of 
the veteran superintendent, we shall see a 
mighty work in progress. The ^^ black patch'' 
may yet become the garden of the Lord. 




REV. J. GREGORY MANTLE 



LONDON HALLS 129 

CENTRAL HALL, DEPTFORD 

The time of my visit to the great hall at 
Deptford was most fortunate. It was on the 
first Sunday afternoon in November w^hen 
the men^s brotherhood, some seventeen hun- 
dred strong, were out to give their superin- 
tendent, Rev. J. Gregory Mantle, a royal 
welcome home after seven months' absence 
in India, Japan, Korea, and China. They 
have in this brotherhood a compan}^ of men, 
some forty in number, who call themselves 
'The Miracles.'^ Not a man in the company 
who has not been redeemed from drunkenness, 
or worse, within the past three years! One 
of the number had written a welcome song 
for the occasion, and another had composed 
the music. I saw those ' 'miracles'' stand up, 
the whole forty of them, and heard them sing 
that song. Ex-gamblers and prize-fighters, 
they all joined in the singing, and with a 
spirit that brought tears to the eyes of the 
superintendent whom they thus honored, and 
to the eyes of many other men in that great 
audience. Talk about a Lazarus! I saw forty 
Lazaruses that afternoon. Dr. Samuel Chad- 
wick's suggestion, that the getting of a Laz- 
arus will do more than any thing else to start 
a mighty revival, is worth thinking about. 



130 THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

The hall in Deptford was opened in October, 
1903. Not a Sunday has passed since then 
that they have not had conversions there. 
Four years ago the only hall was a small room 
seating about two hundred people; to-day 
there are four halls, seating five thousand. 
Central Hall is the largest, and has a seating 
capacity for two thousand. The membership 
has grown in three years from one hundred and 
ninety to over two thousand. Three years 
ago there was one minister, one lay evangelist, 
no deaconesses, and no bandmen. To-day 
there are four ministers, six lay evangelists, 
twelve deaconesses, and four bands with a 
hundred and twenty-five bandmen. The 
bandmen are all enthusiastic Christian men, all 
total abstainers, and all nonsmokers. This mis- 
sion reaches large numbers of dockers and ste- 
vedores. The social side of the work is simply 
astonishing, particularly the work for the poor 
boys and girls. Some of the boys were in the 
Sunday afternoon service, and they seemed in- 
tensely interested in Mr. Mantle's vivid por- 
trayals of the things he saw in India and China. 

MISSION IN KINGSWAY 

The West London Mission, since the death 
of Hugh Price Hughes, has not been flourish- 




REV. J. E. RATTENBURY 



LONDON HALLS 133 

ing; it has been on the decline. This does not 
seem to be the fault of the workers. First, 
Saint James's Hall was sold ; then the mission 
was removed to Exeter Hall, an exceedingly 
bad location for the purposes of the mission. 
After long debate and much wrangling the 
chapel in Great Queen Street was turned over 
to the uses of the mission. A considerable 
amount of money was expended in fitting it 
up. At the last Conference Rev. J. E. Ratten- 
bury, of illustrious Methodist ancestry and a 
man who successfully conducted a mission at 
Nottingham, was appointed superintendent. 
Plans are under way to enlarge the auditorium, 
add clubrooms, and provide a great entrance 
from Kingsway — a fine new street recently 
cut straight through from Oxford Street to 
the Strand. 

Mr. Rattenbury is an interesting and mag- 
netic speaker. His oratory is not of the con- 
ventional type, but rather of the sort which 
made Arius the Libyan so powerful and per- 
suasive a pulpit orator. I heard him on Sun- 
day evening in the first of the six sermons he 
has been preaching on social topics. It was 
the only mission I visited or heard of where 
the evangelistic appeal was not made in the 
Sunday night service. Some of Mr. Ratten- 



134 THE CIIUECII AND THE SLUM 

bury's friends rather apologized for him next 
day by saying that he was bidding for his 
audience, being new in the mission, and that 
after he had his audience he would be as 
evangelistic as any of the missioners. Let us 
hope so. But there are some who will doubt 
the wisdom of a preacher trying to get an 
audience by preaching socialism, or any other 
ism, with the expectation that he will hold 
that same audience by preaching the saving 
power of Jesus Christ. I had read in the 
British Weekly the day before an interview 
with Mr. Rattenbury on ^^Why I am a So- 
cialist.'' Socialism is the one great and ab- 
sorbing topic in England just now. Of course, 
what Rattenbury and men like him mean by 
declaring themselves to be socialists is not 
that they are political but Christian socialists. 
They are trying to show that the good in 
socialism, rightly understood, is a part of the 
program of Christianity. 

SOUTH SIDE MISSION 

The last hall I visited was the one superin- 
tended by Rev. Henry T. Meakin. It is lo- 
cated in a deserted and dirty part of South 
London, about a mile east of Spurgeon's 
Tabernacle. No more interesting work is to 




:|i-- - 



CENTRAL HALL. SOUTH LONDON MISSION 



LONDON HALLS 137 

be seen anywhere. The mission was founded 
eighteen years ago. Mr. Meakin, formerly in 
the railroad service, was superintendent when 
the new hall was building, and has seen the 
prosperity of the work from the opening until 
now. The present membership is about fifteen 
hundred and steadily increasing. It is esti- 
mated that fully seven thousand people, 
young and old, pass through the hall every 
week. The most characteristic feature of the 
work here is what is done for the children. 
Plans are on to do more. Mr. Meakin has a 
considerable amount pledged for a great in- 
stitutional building for children, to be located 
just across the street from Central Hall. He 
has a theory that the cheapest, quickest, and 
most effectual way in which to improve the 
slum community is to care for the neglected 
children. "1 would have,'' says he, ^^a state 
record for, and oversight over, every indi- 
vidual child until the child has passed through 
the preparatory period of life and has emerged 
into an age of responsibility for itself.'' He 
says further: ^^At all costs there should be 
no out-of-works between the ages of thirteen 
and eighteen." When the home of which 
Superintendent Meakin is dreaming is built, 
and the twenty-five hundred children are 



138 THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

actually there, it will be a place worth going 
to see. 

^^THE OLD ORDER CHANGETH'^ 

It was in 1891 that I got my first glimpse 
of the Wesley an Church. During the summer 
of that year I attended the Conference, which 
was held at Nottingham. There I heard many 
of the leading men on the floor of the Con- 
ference and in services held in the chapels of 
the city. Later I visited many chapels in 
London and other cities. The impression 
made was not favorable. It seemed to me 
that the Wesleyans of England were in a rut, 
and that, with the exception of a few noble 
and notable men, the more earnest spirit of 
Methodism had departed. The Methodism 
I saw seemed little less than an imitation, and 
a poor imitation at that, of the Established 
Church, having no fine, strong, vigorous, in- 
dependent life and power of its own. Per- 
haps I had expected too much. Perhaps I 
did not see all I ought to have seen. But the 
impression made was as I have described it. 
I am coming back home from this visit, six- 
teen years later, amazed and thrilled by what 
I have seen. The mission halls had few advo- 
cates sixteen years ago. To-day their spirit 
is pervading the whole Wesley an Church. It 




REV. HENRY T. MEAKIN 



LONDON HALLS 141 

is hardly too much to say that these halls 
have transformed the Wesley an Church. Peter 
Thompson said to me: ^^If it had not been for 
the mission halls, we shouldn^t have had the 
Million Guinea Fund, and if we hadn^t had 
the Million Guinea Fund, Methodism to-day 
would be depressed, if not disheartened/' I 
have talked with leading representatives of 
the Methodist press, with distinguished min- 
isters in circuits as well as in mission halls, 
with professors in three of the Wesleyan 
theological colleges, with members of the 
editorial staff of great papers both religious 
and secular, with eminent professors and min- 
isters outside of the Wesleyan Church, with 
business men as well as clergymen, with stu- 
dents as well as professors, and the testimony, 
in every case, has been an expression of deep 
appreciation of what the mission halls have 
done and are doing, not only for the Wesleyan 
Church, but for Christianity and for the social 
betterment of the waste places in the cities of 
England. The Wesleyan Church is over- 
whelmingly committed to the mission-hall 
idea. On the strength of testimony received 
I am safe in saying that the mission halls 
never had the confidence of the Methodists of 
England as they have to-day. And there is 



142 THE CIirKCll AND TIIK SLUAl 

rea:5on for this. One oi the most accurate 
statisticians of the AVesleyan Church said to 
me: "Of the lifty-seven thousand net increase 
in membership duruig the past ten years, 
three fourths have come directly through the 
mission halls." Over forty of these missions 
have already been estabUshed, and all are 
flourishing. The Wesleyans have ptit some 
five million dollars into these great establish- 
ments, and they are not done yet. Xew halls 
are in process of erection. Even the circuits 
are catchuig the enthusiasm, and halls not so 
expensive as those in the cities, but seating 
some one thousand people, are being built in 
several of the rural districts. The latest re- 
port of the Home ]\Iission Fund names five 
such halls which are now in operation. In 
this same report Dr. Pope and his assistant, 
Rev. Simpson Johnson, call attention to the 
danger, ever present in movements of this 
kmd, that social and intellectual activities 
may push the spiritual into the backgroimd. 
They go on to say: ''We have been wonder- 
fully preserved from this danger in the past, 
and if each missioner is a strong and spirit- 
ual personality, breathing his own soul into 
all his coworkers, then the secondary fac- 
tors will take their proper place and will 




KEV. J. (.aiFA;OUY MANTLE AND SOME OF II IS 
POOR CHILDREN 



LONDON HALLS 145 

be made helpful in the great business of saving 
men/' 

MISSION HALLS IN AMERICA 

To what extent the mission hall may be 
adopted to advantage here in America I do 
not pretend to say. Others who have given 
more careful study to the problem of the 
American city will be better able to judge. 
I can think just now, however, of at least 
three districts in as many of our large cities 
where I should like to see the experiment tried. 
Perhaps we should do well to use another 
name. The t3^ical mission hall with us is 
such a cheap affair that few would understand 
what we meant. Wiatever we may think of 
transplanting the method, there can be no 
doubt that the spirit of the mission hall, which 
is preeminently and persistently evangelistic, 
is needed here as well as in England. In every 
mission I saw, with the possible exception of 
West London, the fire of evangelism is burning 
brightly. It is a sane evangelism, too. It 
says to the unsaved man: ^^ Jesus Christ wants 
you. He died for you. If you let him, he will 
make out of you the man 3^ou ought to be. 
Come!'' It says to the redeemed man: ^ 'Bring 
yourself to your best; be as strong and fully 
developed as it is possible for you to be. Win 



14G THE CHURCH AND THE SLUM 

somebody else; be Christ^ s messenger to some- 
one who is now where you were. Render 
some social service — brighten a home, help a 
boy, stand against the things that hurt, lend 
a hand; remember, you are Christ's man, and 
as Christ's man you are, like him, to go about 
doing good." The watchword everywhere in 
the mission halls seems to be, "Evangelism and 
Social Service.'^ 

I should feel condemned if I did not add a 
word of confession, and say that my visit to 
these twelve missions has been an inspiration 
to my own soul. I went on this trip for a rest 
and recreation. I found both, though in a man- 
ner I did not anticipate. In looking into the 
work of these mission halls, I have read new 
chapters in the Acts of the Apostles, and have 
seen such visions of opportunity that I am 
coming back determined, God helping me, to 
put more emphasis on evangelism and to render 
more worthy social service. I am deeply in- 
debted to my brethren across the sea for much 
kindness shown and many delightful cour- 
tesies which shall not be forgotten; but my 
great obligation to them grows out of the 
privilege they gave me of seeing the work 
they are doing for the social and spiritual 
regeneration of England. 



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